It is a constant surprise to me that Ronald
Stevenson has such a poor presence as
composer and performer in the recorded
catalogue. Of course, his most renowned work,
the Passacaglia on DSCH, has been recorded
more than once. But he has written more than
500 other works for piano (as well as legion
songs, instrumental and chamber pieces and a
healthy smattering of orchestral scores), only a
tiny portion of which have made it on to disc.
Divine Art’s three-disc retrospective
comprising 53 separate tracks at last begins to
redress the balance.

And what a collection of treasures it
provides. The overwhelming focus is on
Stevenson’s reworkings (including
variations), recompositions or simple
transcriptions of other composers’ music,
but the dividing lines demarcating where
transcription becomes reworking and
reworking becomes recomposition matter
little to this most all-encompassing of
artists. So for example, on CD 3, his
comparatively straight transferences to the
piano of Mozart’s K608 Fantasia (1952) and
the Romanza from the D minor Concerto,
K 466 (2002) lie cheek by jowl with the
delightful Melody on a ground of Glazunov
(1970). Similarly, CD 1 opens with a Bach
Prelude and Chorale paired with, among
others, the Fugue on a fragment of Chopin
(1949 – arguably his first real masterpiece)
and Pensées sur des Préludes de Chopin
(1959).

Original compositions are present, too
– perhaps not enough of them – such as the
Two Music Portraits (1965) and
Ricordanza di San Romerio (1987). There are also
out-and-
out variation sets, such as the splendid Little
Jazz Variations on Purcell’s ‘New Scotch
Tune’ (1964, rev 1975).

As Murray McLachlan notes in the booklet,
the work that best encapsulates Stevenson’s
approach to writing for piano is the largest
presented here, taking in all of his different
approaches: the magisterial unaccompanied
concerto Le festin d’Alkan (1997). Its
three
movements are titled Free composition,
with no
external quotations, Free transcription (a
very
free reworking of Alkan’s Op 65 Barcarolle
with references to Scarlatti and Paganini for
contrast) and Free multiple variations,
where Le festin d’Esope is transmogrified as the
basis for
a freewheeling variation-fantasy taking in
other matter, not least Death and the
Maiden.

McLachlan proves the ideal guide
through this unendingly fascinating array
of works, supplying the fourth string in
Stevenson’s creative make-up:
interpretation. McLachlan’s technique is
equal to the most challenging of the
composer’s virtuosic demands, his musical
sensibilities attuned to shaping the torrents
of notes into real works of art and his
lightness of touch able to draw out the
subtle tones and colours that are the
lifeblood of the music. If I have dwelt
more on the music than its interpretation,
this is due to its regrettable unfamiliarity,
something this superb release will remedy.

The recording is very clear, no mean
achievement given the music’s wide dynamic
and textural range, the acoustic (the Haden
Freeman Concert Hall at the Royal Northern
College of Music) comfortable and faithfully
reproduced. Here and there, the Steinway
Model D shows signs of strain – try the
disturbing opening span of Le festin
d’Alkan
– but this never mars the overall experience.
Very strongly recommended.